Mates

By: Will B
(© 2009 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

The Judge looked at them, and then announced, “Very well. I have studied the relevant Acts, Statutes, and Ordinances pertaining to ‘Benefit of Clergy,” and after due consideration, my decision is….’

Chapter 11

“….. my decision is this,” Judge Tyler said: “because of the laws protecting those who claim benefit of clergy, the State cannot harm you. However, Longleaf Manor will be confiscated, and the three of you must leave England within the next ninety days. I am suggesting you be sent to Maryland as convicts. You will be sentenced to work as servants for the next seven years. After that you may live in Maryland as free men, but you can never return to England.”*

Ed, Henry, and George heard the verdict with mixed emotions. They were relieved not to have to face execution as traitors, but to leave England! Never to see this beautiful land again!

“Do the prisoners have anything they would like to say?” the Judge asked.

“No, Your Honor,” said George. “We thank you for the consideration you have shown to us.”

“Very well,” Judge Tyler said. “You will be returned to your quarters. Sergeant Thomas will see to your imprisonments, and ..Sergeant?”

“Your Honor?”  Miles Thomas said.

“You are relieved of all other duties except guarding these prisoners and trying to arrange for their transportation to Maryland. You may allow them visitors, but, if they escape, or if they are not gone from England, by say, February 10, 1649, you will suffer dire consequences. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Miles Thomas and the other soldiers escorted the prisoners back to their quarters.

Once they were ensconced in their rooms, Miles said to them, “Prisoners, I have been somewhat lenient in my treatment of you, but I cannot risk any punishment if you escape, so I may not be so lenient in the next ninety days.”

“Sergeant Thomas,” said Edward, “you have been kind to us, and I give you my word that I will not do anything to cause you trouble.”

“I promise also,” said Henry.

“And you have my word also,” said George.

The days passed in relative calm. If the three were apprehensive about the future, at last they did not have the shadow of the axe and the block hanging over them.

For a Parliamentary soldier, Miles Thomas was kind to his prisoners. Several times a week he would allow George to join him for a game of cards after Ed and Henry were asleep. Sometimes he would take all three, heavily guarded, up on the roof of Westminster Palace for some fresh air.

One day in December, they were on the roof when they heard a noise in the street below. Moving to the edge of the roof they looked down and saw what appeared to be a short man riding on a black horse. Although he did not appear tall, he rode with great dignity and would occasionally wave to the crowds. He was surrounded by soldiers. The crowd watched in silence as the man rode down the road.

George looked, and then looked again and then fell to his knees. “Look, Ed! Look, Henry! It’s the King!”

Ed waved and shouted “God Bless Your Majesty.” The King must have heard him for he looked up and saw Edward, and must have recognized him from his visit to Longleaf Manor that long time ago. He took his hat off and waved it at Ed.

“He remembers me! I’m sure he does!” said the ecstatic Ed.

“Perhaps, not, Ed,” said George. “He may just have waved to you because he saw a friendly face.”

Later that evening, Miles brought them the news that the King, who had taken refuge in Carisbrooke Castle, had been recaptured and brought to London, and now had been sent to Windsor Castle, to await trial for treason.

Windsor Castle was a magnificent structure on the Thames some twenty miles from London.**

One again George, Edward, and Henry were in a somber mood when they  returned to their room.

“I had to visit the King at Windsor once when I had to take him some messages,” George said. “ Even though these were important messages, to be delivered verbally, and I had to take his answers back to London at once, the King …. the King…” George’s voice was beginning to break up. “…..the King insisted that I take some refreshment before I started my journey back to London. He was always so ….”

George lost it completely, and this time it was the younger men who had to comfort him.

Christmas came and although the Puritans did not celebrate the birth of Christ in the way that most English did, Miles saw to it that a roast goose, potatoes, greens, some apple tarts and some flagons of ale were delivered to the prisoners.

“Miles is so kind to us. I wonder if his heart is fully in sympathy with the Parliamentarians,” Henry said.

“I don’t know,” replied George. “I think if any of us tried to escape, he’d treat us much more harshly than he has.”

“Oh, I wasn’t even thinking of that,” said Henry. “It’s just that he is always so…., well, almost fatherly, in the way he treats us.”

“He told me once that he and his wife lost two of their sons to the plague, and he heard how your parents worked to help the villagers at Longleaf when the plague struck there,” George said.

“I didn’t know that,” replied Ed, “but I guess that explains it.”

“He also told me he thinks he has found someone who is sailing to Maryland and who is willing to take the three of us as indentured servants,” George told them.

* * * * *

On January 6, a special session of Parliament met. It was called the ‘Rump Parliament’ because all those members of the House of Commons who were sympathetic to the King had been expelled. This ‘Rump Parliament” gave itself the right to make new Acts of Parliament without the king's approval.

When told of these developments the three were almost flabbergasted. “Surely the King’s approval must be sought!” said George.

There was worse to come. On January 20, a High Court of Justice was established to try the King for treason. The court found Charles guilty and sentenced him to death. There was talk that the new Parliament would not even recognize young Prince Charles as the new King.

Early in the morning of January 30, Miles Thomas brought the three new sets of clothes and told them to dress quickly and to be ready to go with him.

“Where are we going?” Edward asked.

“You’ll find out. I’m not allowed to tell you,’ replied Miles, almost gruffly, unlike the way he usually spoke. “I will tell you to dress warmly as it is cold out there.”

Accordingly, George, Henry, and Edward all put on extra shirts under their new cambric shirts.

Dawn was breaking as Miles and his soldiers escorted the three out of the Palace of Westminster and down the silent streets to Whitehall Palace. Through several long corridors they walked until they reached a set of doors closed and guarded by four soldiers who stood with their pikes at the ready.

Miles stopped, turned, and faced his captives. “I can tell you now that you are here because of someone’s last wish.”

He turned and nodded to the guards who stood aside and allowed Miles and his three captives to enter the room, which was sumptuously appointed. It was in fact, the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace. The Banqueting Hall had been designed some years previously by Inigo Jones.

As he walked into the room, a crowd of people moved aside and Edward Robinson, who was at one time the Lord of Longleaf Manor beheld his…. His… Liege Lord, Charles I, King of England, Scotland, Ireland, and France.

The King stood there dressed in a white shirt, black knee-length leggings, white stockings, and black slippers. When he saw the three, he moved towards them.

Edward, Henry, and George all sank to their knees, and bowed their heads.

“Rise, my friends. I have sent for you to bid you farewell. They say a man about to be put to death is allowed a last request, and …”

“Death! Oh, no!” George cried.

“Yes, my friend and faithful clerk. Parliament has decreed that I be put to death by the common hangman”

“Hanged. No, Sire, that’s not right!” Edward cried out.

“Richard Brandon is the common hangman of London, but Parliament has said that I can be put to death by beheading. I suppose that is some consolation…. No, no, my friends, do not weep.”

Henry had bowed his head and was sobbing. Ed and George were close to tears, and Miles was clearing his throat in a very suspicious manner.

“Well,” said His Majesty, “I am almost ready. I have some coins to give the executioner to thank him for doing his job quickly. I thought I would like to give the three of you some little thing to remember me by.”

With that Charles tore three buttons off his shirt. They were plain buttons, but as he handed them to the three they looked at them as if they were pieces of gold.

They each kissed his hand, and whispered, “God bless you, Sire.”

“Sergeant Thomas, I have a request of you. This is a letter to my wife and children in France. Would you do your best to see that it is delivered to them?” Charles handed Miles Thomas a letter, and Miles Thomas, staunch Presbyterian that he was, loyal follower of Cromwell that he was, went down on one knee, bent his head, and said, “Aye, that I will, Your Majesty.”

“I think that’s all then.” Turning to the people who had been sent to see to his execution, the King said with a rueful laugh, “It’s cold out there. I wish I had an extra shirt to wear to keep me from shivering with the cold. I wouldn’t want anyone watching to think I was shivering from fear.”

Immediately George took off his shirt, and held it out. “Sire, if you would allow me…”

With a smile and a murmured “Thank you,” the King put on the shirt, nodded to his guards and stepped out on the balcony.

The buzz of noise from the street stopped immediately.

The watchers inside the room saw the axe rise and then FALL!

And then…. silence.

To be concluded in one or two more chapters.

* Historical Footnotes: This is how ‘benefit of clergy’ worked. But a person could only claim it once. At one time it was the custom to brand the person’s right hand so that he could not claim it a second time. That is the reason persons preparing to testify in court are asked to raise their right hand.

** Samuel Pepys, a noted diarist of the late 17^th century, called it ‘the most romantique castle in the world.’

E’s Comment:  This chapter is not one that makes you feel real good.  I am looking forward to Ed and Hank’s and, yes, even George's arriving in America.  Surely their luck will improve once they arrive in Maryland.

Posted: 04/17/09